Massive fire engulfs Chinese camps at Pakistan's Dasu Dam

Peshawar: A massive fire engulfed the residential camps of a Chinese company managing the construction of a remote hydropower dam in northwestern Pakistan, according to media reports on Wednesday.

The fire started in the early morning on Tuesday at the Dasu hydropower project’s warehouses and residential camps of Chinese engineers and workers in the Barseen area of Lower Kohistan, The Dawn newspaper reported.

Rescue 1122 fire tenders and fighters rushed to the spot after receiving emergency calls and started extinguishing the blaze, it said.

The fire which took five hours to be put out completely is believed to have been caused by a short-circuit, police said.

No loss of life or injury was reported.

“The enraged flames engulfed the entire area and gutted camps and warehouses,” Khaliq Dad, the district emergency officer of Rescue 1122, Upper Kohistan, was quoted as saying.

The Chinese engineers and workers were shifted to nearby safer places.

“We have launched an inquiry into the incident and it would be completed in three days as it is part of our standard operational procedures,” Anwarul Haq, Dasu Dam’s General Manager, told reporters.

In 2017, Pakistan’s water ministry awarded the construction contract for the Dasu dam to the China Gezhouba Group Company, reported Dunya News.

The camp housed Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanics, the report said.